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MSI NX7900GT-T2D56E

£234 inc VAT

Manufacturer: MSI

Our Rating: We rate this 4 out of 5

By | 07 June 06

The 7900 GTX may be a powerful gaming card, but its £500 asking price is eyewatering. The 7900 GT is a far more enticing prospect.

The 7900 GTX may be a powerful gaming card, but its £500 asking price is eyewatering. The 7900 GT is a far more enticing prospect. It's less than half the price of the 7900 GTX and, to all intents and purposes, the GT and the GTX are the same card. The latter is merely adorned with a few go-faster stripes.

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Both cards have 24 pixel pipelines, which is undeniably a better deal for GT owners. Large quantities of pixel pipelines spell high-quality graphics output. Only the ATI X1900 chips have ever had more pipes than the GT.

As is the case with the GTX, the 7900 GT has a full 256bit interface and is manufactured using the heat-efficient 0.09-micron process. It shares the GTX's dual-link DVI (digital visual interface) connectivity, allowing you to view seriously high resolutions on your flat-panel. Very few readers will have a spare 30in flat-panel display running at 2,560x1,600, but it's nice to have the option.

Inevitably, there are compromises, and the GT loses out on clock speed. Its core and memory speeds of 450MHz and 660MHz are 200MHz and 140MHz down on those of the GTX. Its memory bandwidth is a less impressive 42.2GBps (gigabytes per second). Nonetheless, these are decent figures.

The 7900 GT flew through our games tests with few problems. Even the 7800 GTX was unable to keep up with it. Under intensive testing, this card was never more than 12-15fps (frames per second) behind the GTX.

MSI NX7900GT-T2D56E Expert Verdict »
Post Review
nVidia GeForce 7900 GT graphics processor
256MB DDR3 RAM
core clock 450MHz
memory clock 660MHz (1.32GHz DDR effective)
manufacturing process 0.09-micron
24 pixel pipelines
256bit memory interface
PCI Express interface
DirectX 9.0 support
DVI
video-out
  • Build Quality: We give this item 8 of 10 for build quality
  • Features: We give this item 8 of 10 for features
  • Value for Money: We give this item 9 of 10 for value for money
  • Overall: We give this item 8 of 10 overall

The GTX is too expensive. This, on the other hand, is excellent value. For a product that packs this much performance, the £234 price tag is great – and affordable enough for high-end gamers to buy a pair. Now that would be a gaming system worth giving up your house for.

There are currently no price comparisons for this product.
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